Professor David Downes and Dr Kirstine Hansen present a brief outline of findings from their research, which explores the relationship between welfare expenditure and levels of punishment.

They begin by examining research on welfare spending and imprisonment rates across US states and replicate this work using data from 18 countries, including the United Kingdom. The results show that welfare provision relates significantly to penal policy and practice, as measured by the scale of imprisonment, and indicate that welfare cutbacks imply penal expansionism.

This themed section has Jamie Bennett as the guest editor, examining strategies for reforming, and in some cases abolishing, different aspects of the criminal justice system. Contributors include US activist and academic Julia Sudbury and former prison governor David Wilson.